One thing you learn over the years as a player, coach and human being is this: never get too high, never get too low. Now that I'm in my mid-40s, it gets easier in that way. The highs and lows don't last as long as they used to, for better or worse. But tonight's 33-30 win over Lanakila by our 13U was epic.
Epic? Yes. Lanakila had gone unbeaten (I think) through the regular season, including a win over us a month ago. This time, our newer additions (Chris, Tanielu, Kodee, Jenna, Mackie) gave us depth that we didn't have in the earlier game. Sifo still gave us great court savvy, ballhandling and rebounding. Kyle still gave us a smart, stabilizing influence on offense and defense. But we also have Jared, who has gained experience against these older teams and is putting his speed, defensive prowess and offensive sensibilities to work very well.
We were down by 8 or 10 points in the first half after leading 10-4. Lanakila's tall center gave us problems, but it was all mental. His size was never really challenged; nobody took the ball straight into him and forced him to stop us. I offered our team a real challenge at halftime, while we were down 20-15: Play some real Thunder basketball. Don't back down to anybody. Get inside, fake once, twice, three times if you have to, and see if this center will foul you.
Sifo took that challenge. So did Chris. Tanielu. Kyle. Our reserves and starters stepped up! We came from behind, using our press as fuel and gradually wore down a fundamentally sound team. We hung on and overcame some rookie mistakes down the stretch for a first-ever win over Lanakila. We've had close losses to them in the past. Our 17U rallied from 17 down last year to tie the game before Lanakila hit a halfcourt shot to beat us.
Last month, our 15U led 40-35 with 2 minutes left, but Jake cramped up and we struggled without his point-guard skills in a 42-40 loss.
So now, Thunder 13U is in the finals of the Compete & Learn League's Silver Division playoffs. The title game is next Thursday (July 26), 8:00 pm, opponent to be determined later. Our kids really deserve all the praise they can get for gutting this win out. They know what they did well and what they can work to improve. As long as we play with mental toughness, strength of heart and complete team unity, anything is possible. We didn't play a great game tonight, but we played with great heart and that outweighs all statistics.
Most of the 13U are on the 12U roster for this week's NJB Classic. I have no idea what it's like to compete in that tourney at the 12U level, but with our kids, I know we're going to have fun. It'll just suck to not have Sifo (he's 13) in the lineup. We're going to miss his experience and skills; he'll be playing with our 17U.
Enjoy the win, everybody. Let's get back to work tomorrow at 3:00 pm. I LUB THIS GAME.
Update, Tuesday, 1:45 pm: Video is now online.
Highlights
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